Could it really be that simple? Could it be that the practice I follow by deepening concentration is facilitated by my own physiology? Could it be that my practice of deepening my concentration to become more aware is promoted by the flow of dopamine throughout my body?
When dopamine is released into my physical system, I feel rewarded. I have a rush of glee and a brush with ecstasy. I am convinced this happens when I meditate and when I carry mindfulness into my daily activities. How marvelous that I both feel rewarded and find it easier to release my tendency of clinging. Dopamine helps me move into habitual mindfulness, and is perhaps becoming my natural drug of choice.
I think my own physiology is geared to nudge me along the path to insight and wisdom. It is just part of being human. I marvel how this has come out of the evolutionary process as humans have evolved to greater consciousness. We are destined to be mindful.
It actually is nothing new for me to notice and experience how body and mind seem to be one entity. They are one reality, one entity. The two concepts are intimately intertwined in my experience, and current science is moving in that direction. It is simply natural that my body and mind would work together as one entity to move me into that awareness, into that consciousness the spiritual teachers call insight.
The mystics may have called it rapture, with an other-worldly overlay. They explained the experience in the religious metaphors common in their day. For me it is an essentially human experience, deeply embedded in my own inherited physiology.
Perhaps this is part of an explanation of why meditation and eroticism are beginning to seem so intertwined. I have been surprised to notice that the two have so much in common. Perhaps they are simply different aspects of the same process that naturally guides me to good outcome for humans.
The ecstasy of bodies touching can be much more than just a base sensory experience. I notice this whenever I put my hand on someone’s arm. The physicality of it is but a small aspect of an awareness that is latent in the contact. The physical contact can readily bring the two entities into a deep absorption of the other. It is easy to grasp the base physicality, but it is also inviting to move to a deeper kind of awareness.
The same physiology that may reward and move me to reproduce also drives me and rewards me for becoming aware of the deep entanglement we have with one another.
I am noticing that my practice of meditation, my deepening of concentration is rooted in and involved with my physiology. I am aware of this as I lie in bed, slowly becoming awake. The more I awake, become aware of my comforter, notice the extent of my body, observe the walls of my room, the more my sense of well-being increases. I am being rewarded for becoming mindful and aware.
I am developing the habit of awareness, and the flow of dopamine reinforces that practice. My physiology supports and encourages my awareness.
I’ve noticed for some time how it is such a pleasant experience to feel the touch of my surroundings, the sight of my room, the sound of passing cars. I don’t think this is only an abstract or spiritual experience. I feel it through my whole body. I know it is rooted in my physiology. My mindfulness is being supported by the release of rewarding dopamine.
Not a bad way to go through the day.